Blogging 101 Archives - Page 8 of 22

Are Only The Biggest Bloggers Worthy?

09/24/2012 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Jayme Soulati, Millennium Park, Chicago

Once again, big versus small is a platform for a discussion on blogging. You may recall Mark’s Schaefer’s blog post about the future of blogging (and the for the life of me, I combed his blog for the link to that and cannot find it, sorry!) which took the ‘sphere by storm. Last week, as was shared in a post on Feedblitz, I was called a little blogger.

Most peeps who know me also know there’s nothing little about me…both physically and personality. My community supported me; yet I took no offense. Barrett Rossie, who writes at The All Inbound Blog and was recently featured on Follow Friday at Spin Sucks (his background is highly impressive) was more aghast and said, “what does that make me a micro-blogger?”

Every blogger who writes a blog should feel big…really big.

Characteristics of Bloggers

It takes courage and inspiration to launch a blog and keep it going day after day.
It takes engagement, community- and-relationship building to create something Kevin Costner-esque that people want to come to and feel welcome in.
It takes a special kind of deference to let the criticisms rub off shoulders and the teasing not become uncomfortable.
It takes a person with an open mind to engage with all types of personalities, ages, genders, religions, ethnicities, nationalities, topics, tones, voices, and so much more.
It takes a special someone who courageously braves the critics and publishes opinions and thoughts that may rub instead of soothe
It takes confidence to bare a soul now and again with more fervent emotion and show another side of the person behind the masthead.
It takes attitude to stick out the neck in support of peers and the community who may be getting bashed in comments.
It takes a mature blogger to NOT put up the dukes with a commenter who goes off on a tangent when the instinct is to fight back and engage.
It takes confidence to ignore the posts from the A-listers who share their vision for the future of blogging that doesn’t bode well for those of us looking on.
Most of all it takes YOU knowing that in your contribution is special and no one can tell you any differently.

These characteristics make a successful blogger regardless of the number of subscribers. If you’re really into big data, that’s fine, but once in awhile look at the human side because behind every good blog is a person.

What do you think?

Contest Now Open: Win IT Help Migrating to Feedblitz

09/20/2012 By Jayme Soulati

By now everyone knows I’m on a Feedblitz migration kick. My post this week launched a barrage of migrations from Feedburner to Feedblitz, many blog posts about it and even more thinking about how and when and why to do it.

I’ve already been in touch with Phil Hollows, CEO of Feedblitz , to invite him to do a Q&A with me – heck, we may even do a video or podcast? Should I get that crazy with him? I’ll try to address the many troubles readers are concerned with; including me!

Put that aside…here’s the really exciting thing this morning!

Contest Open Now

I got an email from Rebecca Caroe of Creative Agency Secrets. She works directly with Phil Hollows of Feedblitz. As is my duty to do the due diligence, I asked Phil for a vouch. He confirmed that Rebecca is legit, and here’s what’s so cool about that…

Three lucky members of the Soulati-‘TUDE! Community have a chance to win a free tech consulting project to help them migrate their blog(s) from Feedburner to Feedblitz. Rebecca wins because she can fine tune her service offering; you win because you don’t need to experience the headache I did to migrate my blogs to Feedblitz (and still tweaking). So, just in case you don’t get it; Rebecca’s team is going to do your entire migration for you; you need do NOTHING (except the two little thingies below).

Two little caveats when you’re chosen to become the winner:

Feedblitz offers a free, 30-day trial; a credit card is required to register up front although it won’t be charged for 30 days.
Logins and passwords need to be shared for both Feedburner and Feedblitz with Rebecca’s team to get the migration complete.

How to Win

I’m going to make this real easy for us all.

In comments below, add your “Count me in,” and you’ll officially be entered in the contest.
By Friday 5 p.m. EDT, the contest closes; no more entries.
I’ll write all the names in an email to my Mom and ask her to pick 3 names off the list. She’ll have no clue because she doesn’t read this blog.
I’ll announce the winners in comments over the weekend.
I’ll connect winners with Rebecca on Monday and step out of the way!

Easy Peezie, Lemon Squeezie…I always try to say that when the opportunity is ripe! Heh.

Let the games begin! Remember, contest closes at 5 p.m. EDT Friday this week!

Little Bloggers Rule

09/19/2012 By Jayme Soulati

I’m pointing a finger at , the CEO of Feedblitz, with whom I’ve become so very acquainted over these last 10 days since I decided to .

I wrote a blog post on my experience (link above), and Phil alongside my good friends and . No one would argue these two are short of A-listers (because all the A-listers fully deny they’re anything at all related to such a moniker).

What Phil said in his case study about my blog is that I am a “little known blogger.” (He said after that he should have said, “little known to him.”) No worries, Phil! I happen to know that my blog post about Feedblitz has influenced no less than six migrations to your Feedblitz service and about four (that I’m aware of).

Now, mind you, I was not influenced by Danny Brown’s post to migrate to Feedblitz. I had seen it, but the email marketing campaign Feedblitz sent to me worked.

And, I do agree with you, Phil…in some regard…I’m a little blogger, but not little-known, at least in social media circles.

Not So Good Little Blogger Facts

This blog has few to no subscribers. Subscribers are NOT one of my metrics for blogging success. (Well, OK, that’s really lame; I ‘m gonna work on that!)
There is no newsletter. Not for lack of interest; it’s for lack of time.
The RSS feed I had was really just for my daily blog post, and I never knew how to use it. (Now, Feedblitz can share all my content from two blogs, comments elsewhere, tweets, Facebook posts, and more.)

Awesome Little Blogger Facts

#RockHot community with comments that are so in-depth and insightful they can become blog posts on their own.
Readers who lurk, like and tweet about what they see.
Positive commentary everywhere that shows my content sings (based on what people tell me).
Passion about topics, profession, teachings, sharing, engaging, and so much more.
More than 2.5 years blogging and a year blogging on another blog.
Contribution to the future of blogging that no one can deny.
Consistent growth with tweaks and tech that help nurture newbie bloggers (because there is always someone newer).
Mentorship of little bloggers and encouragement to stay the course.

So, Phil, and everyone else who regards subscribers as the best metric (especially when you make money off subscribers, I get that), it’s not always about the analytics. Although, would call me stupid for not putting that on top of the heap.

Bloggers have goals.
Stick to yours.
Publish genuine, authoritative and authentic content consistently.

One day we all will be that not-A-Lister blogger who got a start somewhere.

8 Tips To Migrate From Feedburner to Feedblitz

09/14/2012 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Feedblitz.com

There’s one thing that’s dead for sure — Feedburner, without a doubt. One day this week, Feedburner stopped sending my blog to Triberr and anywhere else. My blog was dead, too, because no subscribers or RSS feeds were getting my material.

Why? Because Google bought Feedburner for $100 million in 2007 and shut it down.

As a blogger concerned with the front end and nice words you see on these pages, I didn’t pay attention to the hubbub surrounding Feedburner…until I was forced to pay attention.

I am proud to say that all by my lonesome I migrated with one simple ebook that appeared miraculously in my email box and I downloaded immediately — The Feedburner Migration Guide.

If you follow this book, page by page with its excellent screen shots and simple, plain English instructions, you will be able to do this in about four to five hours. Now, mind you, this blog has no traction when it comes to a database, subscribers or even an RSS feed. In fact, I’m not even sure what I’d put in an RSS feed beyond my blog posts or how that gets populated.

If your blog has hundreds of well-earned subscribers, you’re probably going to want to ensure you interact with Feedblitz tech support, and they are very helpful. I emailed a question to a general email box, and they got back to me after fixing my mistake and even looking at my blog.

Here are a few tips to make your migration smoother:

1. Uncover your log in and password to Feedburner; this is the first thing you’ll need.

2. Do not delete the feed from Feedburner unless you’re done setting up Feedblitz first.

3. Use the ebook and nothing else to guide you and follow the steps. I can’t say I understood everything in it; I just extrapolated the sections that I knew pertained to my use of RSS, and it worked. The screen shots are wonderful.

4. Don’t forget to go into your widgets and click on RSS. Change the feed source url to Feedblitz.

5. Download the Feedblitz plug in and activate it AFTER you delete the Feedburner plug in.

6. Write a quick test post and see if it appears on sites where your posts are republished, like Triberr and Social Media Today and Alltop, for example.

7. Go to someone’s blog like or Craig McBreen who have CommentLuv and see if your test post is picked up.

8. Don’t forget to add your new Feedblitz source feed url to all the sites/settings where you re-publish your blog — see 6 above.

If you have any questions, don’t ask me by any stretch! Use the book and the fabulous support desk at Feedblitz.

Here’s one more disclaimer, I have no idea how to use 1/4 of the solutions and options Feedblitz offers, but people have to learn somehow, right? I can’t tell you whether this is the best option for your blog, but just went there and if he migrated all of his subscribers, well you can, too.

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